Thursday, October 20, 2016

Well, the truth is, I have had better days. The lady came without some of the tools she needed. I had to go over to Jerry's barn to get some for her. She told me we had just made things too tight, or she wouldn't NEED those tools. With the proper wrench, the task was very simple and quick.

I asked questions she didn't know the answer to, and she had trouble with the software. I was nearly in tears because it was a long time wasted, but fought them back.

Then she guffawed at the way I was loading my quilt, and informed me that SHE did it VERY different. I was nice and asked her to show me HER way. I thought HER way was fast and sloppy. I wanted to fix it so my quilt/batting/back were straight and even and the pins were end-to-end the way I like them, but she seemed to be in a huge hurry to leave. She didn't think it was necessary to even center any of the layers. I wanted to be sure I got that quilt done because she had promised me we would do it, so I didn't argue with her.

She arrived at 10:30 in the morning, and she left at 3:30. I sure wouldn't call that a whole day. Plus, we took a break for lunch that I fixed. That is LESS than five hours for $500. She had to drive 4 hours to and from my house, but I can't help where she lives and that she is the ONLY Oklahoma sales rep. She chooses to do that. I told her before she came that she was welcome to spend the night.

Maybe all installs are like that. I can only talk about this one.

She did say I could call her as she was driving, but I could have done that anyway. Customer service is supposed to be the big PLUS with APQS.

OTHER THAN ALL OF THAT, I am happy with the Quilt Path, and I intend to learn EVERYTHING it does. I still have to arrange all the cords and wires because she thought I should do that myself. I'll get Jerry to help me as he excels at massive wire confusion.

The good news is Love Lit Diamonds is all done except for binding, and it was done using the Quilt Path. The panto on it is called Damask, and the installer actually told me about it. I do appreciate the time she took to tell me about that and how to get it.

Here is a picture of it:

So the Cuatro Quilters adventure is OVER!

Sadly, it was a journey without a perfect ending.

I have found all through my life that the ONLY way any two people can remain friends -- as in marriage -- is to FORGIVE, FORGIVE, FORGIVE.

Get over the bad stuff, and dwell on the good stuff.

Tell the truth.

Believe in each other.

Trust each other.

Defend each other.

And ALWAYS be willing to say "I'm sorry".

Love Lit Diamonds will forever be a quilt with the hearts of four friends intertwined -- if only for a few short months. I truly love each of them, and I will cherish this quilt until it is thread bare.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

My lightning fast mind realized this morning that I am in "Fast Internet Land", and I can actually upload a video in just a few minutes.

Unfortunately, I didn't have much to tell you. I wanted to show you my cute new outfit from JC Penney's and my latest cotton blouse, which is no big deal. Just new. Sure-fit Designs, of course.

Here it is:

I WAS going to go back to JCP to get the turquoise version of this outfit, BUT Applebee's decided to starve us today. FIRST -- and this should have been a big clue -- the front door was locked! We had to walk around to the other door to get in. We told a guy inside that the door was locked, and he told some girl "the door is STILL locked", as though he had already told her once.

Then we sat in our assigned booth and Mike came over to wait on us. I ordered from the picture of a yummy-looking pork chop, green beans and sweet potatoes. Margaret ordered a salad. THIRTY MINUTES LATER, we still had no dinner.

I decided to motion to Mike and ask him if he might know the whereabouts of our dinner. He told me it would be right out, and the Manager would bring it. TEN MORE MINUTES later, Mike came back to our table to inquire as to whether or not our meals had arrived -- which OBVIOUSLY, had not!

Mike went somewhere and returned again. He told us he was terribly sorry, but he had NEGLECTED to put our orders in. He wanted to know if we STILL wanted to eat! Of course, we still wanted to eat, but we didn't have enough time. We decided it shouldn't take too long for them to bring us a salad. Evidently, it would take too long, because the manager came back and wanted to know if she could bring us some soup. Margaret told them to FORGET the salads and just bring us some soup. The soup eventually arrived, but it was in a tiny bowl. I could have eaten three times as much! There was no charge, so we just ate it and left. I came back home to fix myself some more lunch, so I never made it to JCP.

We certainly won't be going back to Applebee's! I hate that because it used to be our favorite place to go.

I am now going to go back to my sewing room and finish the blue blouse you saw in the video. I decided on the blue buttons.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

I can't believe an entire week has gone by since Jolene was here. It was the funnest of times, and I am already looking forward to the next time she comes. Jolene thinks driving to an airport, taking a two-hour flight plus a two-hour drive is NO BIG DEAL. She can do it any time! I wish I could be that easy-going and relaxed. I've been planning for weeks just to come to our other house, which is where I am right now.

I have something NEW and EXCITING to tell you about!

I received my Quilt Path Computer this week. On October 19th, Brenda Shreve from Barnsdall, OK is coming to my Kingston home to install it and show me how to use it. She promised I will be quilting with it BEFORE she leaves that day.

Here is a little video about it if you are at all interested:

The first quilt I am going to do with it is my Friendship Swap quilt that I have named: Love Lit Diamonds.

Following will be the charity quilts for the little boys I told you about.

If my phone wasn't currently in my husband's truck, and my husband's truck wasn't currently at our OKC store, I would show you a picture of Love Lit Diamonds. It seems to have lights flickering in it. It really is quite pretty and unusual.

I did not have a pattern for the quilt. I found this picture of a granny holding up a completed quilt. I STILL have not found a pattern for it which I really needed because I could not figure out which way to press the seams. I ended up pressing them all OPEN because I could not make them work otherwise.

I printed out this picture, and I drew around what I decided the block must be. By some miracle, it turned out great. I would really like to know how it should have been pressed though.

My friend, Jolene, gave my husband some pretty blue batik fabric for his birthday and informed me that I was to use my Sure-fit Designs to make him a shirt. I told her Jerry wouldn't wear a shirt I made him, and Jerry piped up and said he certainly would wear it. SOOOOOOOOOOOO, while I am up here this week, I may work on that project. Only problem is, I didn't bring the fabric, but I can start with a muslin.

And guess WHO I am having lunch with tomorrow!?

You all remember her, I'm sure. Princess Di and Jolene mention her all the time. She is in a lot of my older videos. Her name is Phyllis, but I call her Phylly. I bet she will have on something gorgeous that she has made, and I will get the clothes-making but again. Funny, I met her in an internet quilt group, and I don't think she has made a quilt since then! I'll be seeing Margaret sometime this week too.

I would like to say that my new Administrative Assistant at the Kingston store is FAB-U-LOUS! We get along so well, and she is doing an amazing job. Praise God that my awful fears were just a waste of perfectly good time, and things at our store are better than they have ever been. Turns out that was exactly the message of Pastor Hagee this morning. I don't know WHY I fight change so much. I've always been most comfortable with rules, schedules and routine.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

I am sorry I haven't had much time for blogging lately. SO MUCH going on at work and at home -- all good -- but hard to break away for my hobbies lately.

This past weekend was SURPRISES ALL AROUND! Jerry's 70th birthday and a visit from Jolene made it a thrill-a-minute ride that kept us either laughing or crying all weekend long.

I did make three videos of various parts of the weekend that you may have already seen. Just in case, I will put them here for you to see.

#1: Jolene and I are alone on the patio discussing plans to meet the other girls.

#2: We are gathered in the kitchen the morning of the surprise dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and I am teaching Lauren how to use the video camera just in case I am not there at the restaurant table before Jolene gets there. Jerry is SURE something is going to go wrong! Then the big reveal.

#3: The next day when all of the Cuatro Quilters gather in my sewing room, and we add one more, making it the Cinco Quilters! We all adore the new addition even though she hasn't started her first quilt yet.

Someone commented about "poor Jerry". " It was HIS birthday."

Jerry's birthday was Friday night. We had a great celebration here at home for him. The Saturday night dinner always was about Jolene coming from Florida. We just used Jerry's birthday for the disguise. Jerry enjoyed the entire weekend just as much as the rest of us. He had John to fish with while we girls played. PERFECT!

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